Jane Hamilton's recipes

Grind one quart of beef suet fine and add one quart of lean beef, boiled and ground fine. To this add one quart of apples, chopped fine; raisins, one quart, currants, one quart, citron, quarter of a pound, sliced and chopped and dusted in the flour, almonds, quarter of a pound, blanched and chopped fine, one quart of sugar, one teaspoonful of ground mace, cloves, and cinnamon, one pint of whiskey, one pint of sherry wine poured over these ingredients, and lastly, one teaspoonful of salt. PASTRY. To one quart of flour put seven ounces of fresh butter and seven of good firm lard; mix the flour with as little water as will make it adhere together, putting in at the same time one-third of the lard and a little salt; then roll out the paste into a large cake, and put on the lard and butter in little dots all over it, fold the paste, and roll it ( J80 ) well again, adding the lard and butter until all has been rolled in. It should be rolled at least four times. If the paste is to be made in the summertime it should be prepared in the cool of the morning in a pantry or some cool place and left on the ice for several hours before baking. Pastry for apple pies, puddings, etc., is made of six ounces of lard and six of butter to the quart. Pie crust for chicken pies, oysters, etc., is made with ten ounces of butter and lard to a quart of flour. The best pastry is made in cold weather. Even in the Winter pastry should never be made in the kitchen, but always in the pantry or some cool room. RHUBARB FOR PIES. Take the stem of the pieplant (rhubarb), strip off the thin skin, and cut into pieces the size of a gooseberry. Stir in sugar to suit the taste, three-quarters of a pound of sugar to one of fruit should make it sweet enough. Season with fresh lemon. Some stew the fruit before putting it on the paste ; it is better, however, to put it on the paste before stewing. Water is unnecessary, as a sugar seasoning extracts enough juice. It is thought to be better not to strip off the skins. DRINKS DRINKS COFFEE. Take good Mocha or Java coffee, pick out any trash that may be in it, blow off the dust, toast it a good brown, turning it (if in a toaster) or stirring it (if in a skillet) constantly until it is done. Then grind it, pour it in the coffee pot, and pour on boiling water. Set it on the fire and let it boil fifteen minutes. Half a pint of toasted unground coffee will make three pints of coffee, that is, put that quantity of water to that measure of coffee. Put a teaspoonful of the white of egg in the coffee after putting it in the boiler; pour on two or three tablespoonfuls of cold water and mix the egg, coffee, and water together. CORDIAL, BLACKBERRY. To one gallon of the juice of ripe blackberries put two and a half pounds of loaf (185) sugar. Cook in a preserve kettle twenty minutes; five minutes before it is done, put in a very little allspice, mace, and cloves, pounded fine. As soon as it is cold add one pint of the best old rye whiskey; put into bottles, cork tight, and seal with beeswax. If you wish it to keep, put in one quart of whiskey and three and a half pounds of sugar; if brown sugar is used instead of loaf, use one quarter of a pound more to the pound.